LEES: Ready to believe in miracles

Jefferson Starship sang these lyrics in their 1975 hit single “Miracles”:

“If only you believe like I believe, baby, like I believe,

We’d get by.If only you believe in miracles, so would I.

If only you believe in miracles, so would I.”

Okay, first, the 76ers win their first three games including a victory over the reigning NBA champions, the Miami Heat. Then Nick Foles throws a record-tying seven touchdown passes for the Eagles versus the Oakland Raiders putting his name up there with the likes of Sid Luckman, Y.A. Tittle, and Peyton Manning. So I am ready to say, I believe.

Now that we have found some miraculous moments on the Philly sports scene, where else could we use some miracles today? Well, wouldn’t it be nice if somehow we got a miraculous end to extreme nastiness in politics. For instance, we all know that the name “Obamacare” was put into effect by the right wing to slur the Affordable Care Act by associating it with the President, who a number of people just have a visceral hatred of. It’s the same verbal gymnastics that were used by the right back in the 1990’s against President Clinton’s attempt to reform health care. Remember they called it “Hillarycare” for the same reason that the ACA is called “Obamacare” today by the right wing.

I had to get an alum from a school I used to teach at off of my Facebook page because, in my opinion, the guy would go stark raving mad, totally berserk, and sound borderline irrational every time I would say something positive about the Affordable Care Act and/or the President. Look – I’m not happy the healthcare.gov web site is still having problems, and I wish premiums would never go up for anyone. I also wish the president had qualified his language when he said you can keep your present coverage if you like it (which is far as I can tell is correct in about 95 percent of the cases).

But I also know that millions of people will be able to go to the doctor’s office without worrying about astronomical bills being presented to them. I know that people, who have died and are dying because they put off going to the doctor because they couldn’t afford to go, will now be able to go and catch those cancers and other life-threatening diseases earlier, thereby improving their odds of surviving. However, the hate I have seen, which to me is completely irrational, is not going to go away unless there is a miraculous change of heart in a lot of people. And what percentage of that irrational hatred of the President is based on racism? For that matter, what percentage of the irrational hatred of Hillary Clinton by some is based on sexism? I know people who are clearly bigots, and they have no idea that they are bigots. I even heard this sentence from a white male. “I’m not a racist just because I use the N word.” Actually, yes, you are.

Governor Tom Corbett could use a miracle to help him get re-elected. He is considered the most vulnerable incumbent governor running for re-election in 2014 in the nation. That is one miracle I would not like to see.

I guess we need a miracle to get enough people sufficiently enraged to be able to counter-balance the power of the NRA over Congress. Obviously the shootings at LAX airport, the Naval facility in Washington, D.C., the elementary school in Connecticut along with the ongoing slaughter every day in our cities, the accidental shootings, the suicides, Columbine, etc. are not enough to do it.

Now, the Second Amendment was ratified in 1791. What kind of arms did people have back then? Looking online I found that the fastest shooter back then could get off about four rounds a minute. This was before the Spencer repeating carbine (1860), the Gatling gun (1862), the Maxim gun (1884), the Browning automatic rifle (1917), the Thompson submachine gun (“Tommy gun” -1919), the AK-47 (1945), etc. Do you get my drift? The Second Amendment was designed to deal with muskets not AK-47’s.

We have adjusted our laws to railroads, automobiles, airplanes, radio, television, and the internet but we still have a “musket” law to deal with whatever horrendous kill machines have superseded the AK-47 since 1945. It’s sad to think that we have to depend on a miracle to protect us, because our lawmakers aren’t going to. However, that could change if the citizenry gets outraged enough that those legislators are more worried about voters turning them out than they are about their ratings from the NRA.

“If only you believe like I believe” maybe we, the voters, can make sensible 21st century gun laws, rather than 18th century gun laws, a reality without depending on miracles.